Free Lesson Plan
I n f o r m at i o n a l T e x t :
Author’s Purpose in Reagan’s “Tear Down This Wall” Speech
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RI.9-10.1,5,6,8,9 | TEKS 110.32.b.(6,12)
Prestwick House, Inc. ©2015
•
Objectives:
• Introduce students to the concept of bias
• Help students identify the difference between facts and opinions
• Teach students to identify an author’s purpose in a nonfiction text
• Prepare students for a critical reading of nonfiction texts
Time:
45 Minutes or 1 class period
Materials:
1 copy of Handout #1 – Ronald Reagan’s “Tear Down this Wall” Speech for each student
1 copy of Handout #2 – Questions for Examining Bias in “Tear Down This Wall” for each student
Procedure:
1. Begin the class by introduction the concept of fact and opinion.
A fact is an objectively true statement—one that is true regardless of the situation.
My shoes are brown.
The 1st President of the United States was George Washington.
The best-selling book of 2014 was John Green’s The Fault in Our Stars.
An opinion is a view or judgment about something that may or not be true based on subjective belief.
These shoes look good with my pants.
The best president ever was George Washington.
Sometimes opinions are obvious, as in the above examples, but sometimes people present opinions in ways that make them look like
facts.
The Fault in Our Stars was the best book published in 2014.
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I n f o r m at i o n a l T e x t :
Author’s Purpose in Reagan’s
“Tear Down This Wall” Speech
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RI.9-10.1,5,6,8,9 | TEKS 110.32.b.(6,12)
Prestwick House, Inc. ©2015
•
2. Introduce your students to the concept of author’s purpose in nonfiction texts.
While we often think of nonfiction as being “true stories” instead of “made-up stories,” not everything in a nonfiction story is objectively
true.
Every nonfiction text has a reason for being written. Whether it was written to inform people about an event, persuade the reader of a
political opinion, instruct the reader on how to do something, or respond to a different passage, it is important for the reader to understand why the piece was written in order to make an informed decision on how to react to the piece.
3. Introduce the concept of bias.
Every author has personal feelings on the topic he or she is writing about, and those feelings inform what he or she writes, so when you
read a passage about music from the point of view of an EDM artist or a classical composer, they may be discussing the same topic, but
you’ll get a very different picture of the story.
That personal feeling about a topic is called “bias,” and every work has some internal bias. You can learn to infer the bias of the author
either through a careful reading of the text or through knowledge you have about the background of the author.
4. Pass out the two handouts, Ronald Reagan’s “Tear Down this Wall Speech” and the Questions for Examining
Bias in “Tear Down this Wall.”
Have your students read the first handout, paying special attention to the biases of the author.
5. In small groups or individually, have your students complete the questions on Handout #2 – Questions for
Examining Bias in “Tear Down This Wall.”
The answers to the first six questions are:
“Where four decades ago there was rubble, today in West Berlin there is the greatest industrial output of any city in Germany…” Fact
“Freedom leads to prosperity. Freedom replaces the ancient hatreds among the nations with comity and peace. Freedom is the
victor.” Opinion
“…we believe that freedom and security go together, that the advance of human liberty can only strengthen the cause of
world peace.” Opinion
“As I speak, NATO ministers are meeting in Iceland to review the progress of our proposals for eliminating these weapons.”
Fact
“There is no better way to establish hope for the future than to enlighten young minds…” Opinion
“The totalitarian world produces backwardness because it does such violence to the spirit, thwarting the human impulse to
create, to enjoy, to worship.” Opinion
In the remaining questions, the answers may vary, but should lead the students to a fruitful whole-group discussion.
6. After the students have finished handout 2, bring them back into a whole-class discussion of the following
topics.
What is the purpose of the text?
What is the author’s point of view in the text?
Does the author fairly represent both sides of the topic?
What point would an opponent of the point of view focus on?
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Free Lesson Plan
I n f o r m at i o n a l T e x t :
Author’s Purpose in Reagan’s “Tear Down This Wall” Speech
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RI.9-10.1,5,6,8,9 | TEKS 110.32.b.(6,12)
Prestwick House, Inc. ©2015
•
Materials
Handout #1
Ronald Reagan’s “Tear Down This Wall” Speech (1987)................................................. 4
Handout #2
Questions for Examining Bias in “Tear Down This Wall” for each student.............. 8
Homework, Standards and References......................................................... 9
Contact Information...................................................................................................... 9
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I n f o r m at i o n a l T e x t :
Author’s Purpose in Reagan’s
“Tear Down This Wall” Speech
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RI.9-10.1,5,6,8,9 | TEKS 110.32.b.(6,12)
Prestwick House, Inc. ©2015
•
Handout 1 – Ronald Reagan’s “Tear Down This Wall” Speech (1987)
C
Kohl, Governing Mayor Diepgen, ladies
and gentlemen: Twenty-four years ago, President
John F. Kennedy visited Berlin, speaking to the people of this city and the world at the City Hall. Well, since
then two other presidents have come, each in his turn, to
Berlin. And today I, myself, make my second visit to your
city.
We come to Berlin, we American presidents, because
it’s our duty to speak, in this place, of freedom.
But I must confess, we’re drawn here by other
things as well: by the feeling of history in this
city, more than 500 years older than our own
nation; by the beauty of the Grunewald and
the Tiergarten; most of all, by your courage
and determination. Perhaps the composer
Paul Lincke understood something about
American presidents. You see, like so many
presidents before me, I come here today because wherever I go, whatever I do: Ich hab noch
einen Koffer in Berlin. [I still have a suitcase in Berlin.]
Our gathering today is being broadcast throughout
Western Europe and North America. I understand that it
is being seen and heard as well in the East. To those listening throughout Eastern Europe, a special word: Although
I cannot be with you, I address my remarks to you just as
surely as to those standing here before me. For I join you,
as I join your fellow countrymen in the West, in this firm,
this unalterable belief: Es gibt nur ein Berlin. [There is only
one Berlin.]
Behind me stands a wall that encircles the free sectors
of this city, part of a vast system of barriers that divides
the entire continent of Europe. From the Baltic, south,
those barriers cut across Germany in a gash of barbed wire,
concrete, dog runs, and guard towers. Farther south, there
may be no visible, no obvious wall. But there remain armed
guards and checkpoints all the same—still a restriction
on the right to travel, still an instrument to impose upon
ordinary men and women the will of a totalitarian state.
Yet it is here in Berlin where the wall emerges most clearly;
here, cutting across your city, where the news photo and
the television screen have imprinted this brutal division
of a continent upon the mind of the world.
Standing before the Brandenburg Gate, every
man is a German, separated from his fellow
men. Every man is a Berliner, forced to look
upon a scar.
President von Weizsacker has said,
“The German question is open as long as the
Brandenburg Gate is closed.” Today I say: As
long as the gate is closed, as long as this scar
of a wall is permitted to stand, it is not the
German question alone that remains open, but
the question of freedom for all mankind. Yet I do not
come here to lament. For I find in Berlin a message of hope,
even in the shadow of this wall, a message of triumph.
In this season of spring in 1945, the people of Berlin
emerged from their air-raid shelters to find devastation.
Thousands of miles away, the people of the United States
reached out to help. And in 1947 Secretary of State—as
you’ve been told—George Marshall announced the creation
of what would become known as the Marshall Plan. Speaking precisely 40 years ago this month, he said: “Our policy
is directed not against any country or doctrine, but against
hunger, poverty, desperation, and chaos.”
In the Reichstag a few moments ago, I saw a display
commemorating this 40th anniversary of the Marshall Plan.
I was struck by the sign on a burnt-out, gutted structure
hancellor
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I n f o r m at i o n a l T e x t :
Author’s Purpose in Reagan’s
“Tear Down This Wall” Speech
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RI.9-10.1,5,6,8,9 | TEKS 110.32.b.(6,12)
Prestwick House, Inc. ©2015
•
that was being rebuilt. I understand that Berliners of my
you.” But in the West today, we see a free world that has
own generation can remember seeing signs like it dotted
achieved a level of prosperity and well-being unprecedentthroughout the western sectors of the city. The sign read
ed in all human history. In the Communist world, we see
simply: “The Marshall Plan is helping here to strengthen the
failure, technological backwardness, declining standards
free world.” A strong, free world in the West, that dream
of health, even want of the most basic kind—too little
became real. Japan rose from ruin to become an economic
food. Even today, the Soviet Union still cannot feed itgiant. Italy, France, Belgium—
self. After these four decades,
virtually every nation in Westthen, there stands before the
ern Europe saw political and
entire world one great and
economic rebirth; the Europeinescapable conclusion: Freean Community was founded.
dom leads to prosperity. FreeIn West Germany and
dom replaces the ancient hahere in Berlin, there took place
treds among the nations with
an economic miracle, the
comity and peace. Freedom is
Wirtschaftswunder. Adenauthe victor.
er, Erhard, Reuter, and other
And now the Soviets themleaders understood the pracselves may, in a limited way, be
tical importance of liberty—
coming to understand the imthat just as truth can flourish
portance of freedom. We hear
only when the journalist is
much from Moscow about a
President Reagan delivering the speech at the Berlin Wall,
given freedom of speech, so Brandenburg Gate, Germany.
new policy of reform and openprosperity can come about
ness. Some political prisoners
only when the farmer and businessman enjoy economic
have been released. Certain foreign news broadcasts are no
freedom. The German leaders reduced tariffs, expanded free
longer being jammed. Some economic enterprises have been
trade, lowered taxes. From 1950 to 1960 alone, the stanpermitted to operate with greater freedom from state control.
dard of living in West Germany and Berlin doubled.
Are these the beginnings of profound changes in the
Where four decades ago there was rubble, today in
Soviet state? Or are they token gestures, intended to raise
West Berlin there is the greatest industrial output of any
false hopes in the West, or to strengthen the Soviet system
city in Germany—busy office blocks, fine homes and
without changing it? We welcome change and openness; for
apartments, proud avenues, and the spreading lawns of
we believe that freedom and security go together, that the
parkland. Where a city’s culture seemed to have been deadvance of human liberty can only strengthen the cause of
stroyed, today there are two great universities, orchestras
world peace. There is one sign the Soviets can make that
and an opera, countless theaters, and museums. Where
would be unmistakable, that would advance dramatically
there was want, today there’s abundance—food, cloththe cause of freedom and peace.
ing, automobiles—the wonderful goods of the Ku’damm.
General Secretary Gorbachev, if you seek peace, if you
From devastation, from utter ruin, you Berliners have, in
seek prosperity for the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe,
freedom, rebuilt a city that once again ranks as one of the
if you seek liberalization: Come here to this gate! Mr. Gorgreatest on earth. The Soviets may have had other plans.
bachev, open this gate! Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall!
But my friends, there were a few things the Soviets didn’t
I understand the fear of war and the pain of division
count on—Berliner Herz, Berliner Humor, ja, und Berliner
that afflict this continent—and I pledge to you my country’s
Schnauze. [Berliner heart, Berliner humor, yes, and a Berefforts to help overcome these burdens. To be sure, we in
liner Schnauze.]
the West must resist Soviet expansion. So we must maintain
In the 1950s, Khrushchev predicted: “We will bury
defenses of unassailable strength. Yet we seek peace; so we
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I n f o r m at i o n a l T e x t :
Author’s Purpose in Reagan’s
“Tear Down This Wall” Speech
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RI.9-10.1,5,6,8,9 | TEKS 110.32.b.(6,12)
Prestwick House, Inc. ©2015
•
must strive to reduce arms on both sides.
Beginning 10 years ago, the Soviets challenged the
Western alliance with a grave new threat, hundreds of new
and more deadly SS-20 nuclear missiles, capable of striking
every capital in Europe. The Western alliance responded by
committing itself to a counter-deployment unless the Soviets agreed to negotiate a better solution; namely, the elimination of such weapons on both sides. For many months,
the Soviets refused to bargain in earnestness. As the alliance, in turn, prepared to go forward with its counter-deployment, there were difficult days—days of protests like
those during my 1982 visit to this city—and the Soviets
later walked away from the table.
But through it all, the alliance held firm. And I invite
those who protested then—I invite those who protest today—to mark this fact: Because we remained strong, the
Soviets came back to the table. And because we remained
strong, today we have within reach the possibility, not merely of limiting the growth of arms, but of eliminating, for the
first time, an entire class of nuclear weapons from the face
of the earth.
As I speak, NATO ministers are meeting in Iceland to
review the progress of our proposals for eliminating these
weapons. At the talks in Geneva, we have also proposed
deep cuts in strategic offensive weapons. And the Western
allies have likewise made far-reaching proposals to reduce
the danger of conventional war and to place a total ban on
chemical weapons.
While we pursue these arms reductions, I pledge to you
that we will maintain the capacity to deter Soviet aggression
at any level at which it might occur. And in cooperation
with many of our allies, the United States is pursuing the
Strategic Defense Initiative—research to base deterrence not
on the threat of offensive retaliation, but on defenses that
truly defend; on systems, in short, that will not target populations, but shield them. By these means we seek to increase
the safety of Europe and all the world. But we must remember a crucial fact: East and West do not mistrust each other
because we are armed; we are armed because we mistrust
each other. And our differences are not about weapons but
about liberty. When President Kennedy spoke at the City
Hall those 24 years ago, freedom was encircled, Berlin was
under siege. And today, despite all the pressures upon this
city, Berlin stands secure in its liberty. And freedom itself is
transforming the globe.
In the Philippines, in South and Central America, democracy has been given a rebirth. Throughout the Pacific,
free markets are working miracle after miracle of economic
growth. In the industrialized nations, a technological revolution is taking place—a revolution marked by rapid, dramatic advances in computers and telecommunications.
In Europe, only one nation and those it controls refuse
to join the community of freedom. Yet in this age of redoubled economic growth, of information and innovation,
the Soviet Union faces a choice: It must make fundamental
changes, or it will become obsolete.
Today thus represents a moment of hope. We in the
West stand ready to cooperate with the East to promote true
openness, to break down barriers that separate people, to
create a safe, freer world. And surely there is no better place
than Berlin, the meeting place of East and West, to make a
start. Free people of Berlin: Today, as in the past, the United
States stands for the strict observance and full implementation of all parts of the Four Power Agreement of 1971. Let
us use this occasion, the 750th anniversary of this city, to
usher in a new era, to seek a still fuller, richer life for the
Berlin of the future. Together, let us maintain and develop
the ties between the Federal Republic and the Western sectors of Berlin, which is permitted by the 1971 agreement.
And I invite Mr. Gorbachev: Let us work to bring the
Eastern and Western parts of the city closer together, so that
all the inhabitants of all Berlin can enjoy the benefits that
come with life in one of the great cities of the world.
To open Berlin still further to all Europe, East and
West, let us expand the vital air access to this city, finding
ways of making commercial air service to Berlin more convenient, more comfortable, and more economical. We look
to the day when West Berlin can become one of the chief
aviation hubs in all central Europe.
With our French and British partners, the United States
is prepared to help bring international meetings to Berlin. It
would be only fitting for Berlin to serve as the site of United
Nations meetings, or world conferences on human rights
and arms control or other issues that call for international
cooperation.
There is no better way to establish hope for the future
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I n f o r m at i o n a l T e x t :
Author’s Purpose in Reagan’s
“Tear Down This Wall” Speech
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RI.9-10.1,5,6,8,9 | TEKS 110.32.b.(6,12)
Prestwick House, Inc. ©2015
•
than to enlighten young minds, and we would be honored
to sponsor summer youth exchanges, cultural events, and
other programs for young Berliners from the East. Our
French and British friends, I’m certain, will do the same.
And it’s my hope that an authority can be found in East
Berlin to sponsor visits from young people of the Western
sectors.
One final proposal, one close to my heart: Sport
represents a source of enjoyment and ennoblement, and
you may have noted that the Republic of Korea—South
Korea—has offered to permit certain events of the 1988
Olympics to take place in the North. International sports
competitions of all kinds could take place in both parts of
this city. And what better way to demonstrate to the world
the openness of this city than to offer in some future year
to hold the Olympic games here in Berlin, East and West?
In these four decades, as I have said, you Berliners have
built a great city. You’ve done so in spite of threats—the
Soviet attempts to impose the East-mark, the blockade.
Today the city thrives in spite of the challenges implicit
in the very presence of this wall. What keeps you here?
Certainly there’s a great deal to be said for your fortitude,
for your defiant courage. But I believe there’s something
deeper, something that involves Berlin’s whole look and
feel and way of life—not mere sentiment. No one could
live long in Berlin without being completely disabused of
illusions. Something instead, that has seen the difficulties
of life in Berlin but chose to accept them, that continues to
build this good and proud city in contrast to a surrounding
totalitarian presence that refuses to release human energies
or aspirations. Something that speaks with a powerful
voice of affirmation, that says yes to this city, yes to the
future, yes to freedom. In a word, I would submit that
what keeps you in Berlin is love—love both profound and
abiding.
Perhaps this gets to the root of the matter, to the most
fundamental distinction of all between East and West. The
totalitarian world produces backwardness because it does
such violence to the spirit, thwarting the human impulse
to create, to enjoy, to worship. The totalitarian world finds
even symbols of love and of worship an affront. Years ago,
before the East Germans began rebuilding their churches, they erected a secular structure: the television tower at
Alexander Platz. Virtually ever since, the authorities have
been working to correct what they view as the tower’s one
major flaw, treating the glass sphere at the top with paints
and chemicals of every kind. Yet even today when the sun
strikes that sphere—that sphere that towers over all Berlin—the light makes the sign of the cross. There in Berlin,
like the city itself, symbols of love, symbols of worship, cannot be suppressed.
As I looked out a moment ago from the Reichstag, that
embodiment of German unity, I noticed words crudely
spray-painted upon the wall, perhaps by a young Berliner:
“This wall will fall. Beliefs become reality.” Yes, across Europe, this wall will fall. For it cannot withstand faith; it cannot withstand truth. The wall cannot withstand freedom.
And I would like, before I close, to say one word. I have
read, and I have been questioned since I’ve been here about
certain demonstrations against my coming. And I would
like to say just one thing, and to those who demonstrate
so. I wonder if they have ever asked themselves that if they
should have the kind of government they apparently seek,
no one would ever be able to do what they’re doing again.
Thank you and God bless you all.
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I n f o r m at i o n a l T e x t :
Author’s Purpose in Reagan’s
“Tear Down This Wall” Speech
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RI.9-10.1,5,6,8,9 | TEKS 110.32.b.(6,12)
Prestwick House, Inc. ©2015
•
Handout #2
Questions for Examining Bias in “Tear Down This Wall”
1. Label the following five statements from the text as “Fact” or “Opinion.”
“Where four decades ago there was rubble, today in West Berlin there is the greatest industrial output of any city in Germany…”
“Freedom leads to prosperity. Freedom replaces the ancient hatreds among the nations with comity and peace. Freedom is the
victor.”
“…we believe that freedom and security go together, that the advance of human liberty can only strengthen the cause of world
peace.”
“As I speak, NATO ministers are meeting in Iceland to review the progress of our proposals for eliminating these weapons.”
“There is no better way to establish hope for the future than to enlighten young minds…”
“The totalitarian world produces backwardness because it does such violence to the spirit, thwarting the human impulse to create, to enjoy, to worship.”
2. List four words or phrases that reveal the author’s point of view, along with what they reveal.
Example: “gash of barbed wire”—reveals Reagan’s hatred for the symbolism of the wall.
1.
2.
3.
4.
3. What is the author’s personal bias, as revealed in this speech?
4. What is the author’s goal in the speech?
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I n f o r m at i o n a l T e x t :
Author’s Purpose in Reagan’s
“Tear Down This Wall” Speech
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RI.9-10.1,5,6,8,9 | TEKS 110.32.b.(6,12)
Prestwick House, Inc. ©2015
•
Homework
Read the editorial section of your local newspaper or an online newspaper and write a paragraph examining the author’s biases,
answering the following questions:
Is the author using facts or opinions to make his or her points?
Does the author attempt to hide his or her biases?
What is the author trying to convince the reader of?
Does he or she do a good job?
Standards
Common Core Standards – Reading: Informational Texts
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RI.9-10.1
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RI.9-10.8
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RI.9-10.5
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RI.9-10.9
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RI.9-10.6
Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills
110.32.b.(12)110.32.b.(6)
References:
Grudzina, Douglas. Reading & Analyzing Nonfiction: Slant, Spin, and
Bias. Smyrna, DE. Publisher: Prestwick House.
Moliken, Paul (ed). Essential American Documents and Speeches,
Vol. 1 and 2. Smyrna, DE. Publisher: Prestwick House.
Shabo, Magedah. Reading Informational Texts, Levels 7-12. Smyrna,
DE. Publisher: Prestwick House.
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